Renormalization effects in spin-polarized metallic wires proximitized by a superconductor: A scattering approach

Abstract

Spin-polarized normal-metal wires coupled to a superconductor can host Majorana states at their ends. These decay into the bulk and are protected by a minigap in the spectrum. Previous studies have found that strong coupling between the superconductor and the normal-metal wire renormalizes the properties of this low-energy phase. Here, we develop a semiclassical scattering approach to explain these renormalization effects. We show that a renormalization of the propagation velocity in the normal wire originates from double Andreev reflection processes at the superconductor interface and that it continues to exist in the absence of a proximity-induced minigap in the normal-metal wire. We also show that the renormalization effects exist for arbitrary transparency of the normal-metal--superconductor interface, provided the superconductor coherence length is sufficiently long in comparison to the thickness of the normal metal.

arXiv comment8+7 pages, 9 figures

References in corpus (33)

• Half-Metallic Graphene Nanoribbons
• Signatures of Majorana fermions in hybrid superconductor-semiconductor nanowire devices
• Majorana Fermions and a Topological Phase Transition in Semiconductor-Superconductor Heterostructures
• Helical liquids and Majorana bound states in quantum wires
• New directions in the pursuit of Majorana fermions in solid state systems
• Evidence of Majorana fermions in an Al - InAs nanowire topological superconductor
• Observation of Majorana Fermions in Ferromagnetic Atomic Chains on a Superconductor
• Exponential Protection of Zero Modes in Majorana Islands
• Majorana bound states in a coupled quantum-dot hybrid-nanowire system
• Majorana Fermion Induced Resonant Andreev Reflection
• Superconductor-Nanowire Devices from Tunneling to the Multichannel Regime: Zero-Bias Oscillations and Magnetoconductance Crossover
• Majorana fermions in chains of magnetic atoms on a superconductor
• Tunneling characteristic of a chain of Majorana bound states
• Majorana fermions emerging from magnetic nanoparticles on a superconductor without spin-orbit coupling
• Majorana Fermions in Semiconductor Nanowires
• End states and subgap structure in proximity-coupled chains of magnetic adatoms
• Probing Atomic Structure and Majorana Wavefunctions in Mono-Atomic Fe-chains on Superconducting Pb-Surface
• High-resolution studies of the Majorana atomic chain platform
• Ballistic superconductivity in semiconductor nanowires
• Experimental Phase Diagram of a One-Dimensional Topological Superconductor
• Strong localization of Majorana end states in chains of magnetic adatoms
• Andreev reflection from non-centrosymmetric superconductors and Majorana bound state generation in half-metallic ferromagnets
• Topological superconductivity and Majorana fermions in half-metal / superconductor heterostructure
• Effects of gate-induced electric fields on semiconductor Majorana nanowires
• Hybridization at superconductor-semiconductor interfaces
• Metallization of Rashba wire by superconducting layer in the strong-proximity regime
• Effective theory approach to the Schrodinger-Poisson problem in semiconductor Majorana devices
• Majorana Fermions in Chiral Topological Ferromagnetic Nanowires
• Proximity-induced low-energy renormalization in hybrid semiconductor-superconductor Majorana structures
• Finite-size effects in a nanowire strongly coupled to a thin superconducting shell
• Andreev reflection at half-metal-superconductor interfaces with non-uniform magnetization
• Robustness of Majorana bound states in the short junction limit
• Substrate-induced Majorana renormalization in topological nanowires

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Hunting for Majoranas